Laughing Kookaburra

Shot from my veranda. I spotted him out the front and we flew down to the side of the house and then up onto this branch when I got to that part of the veranda.

This photo is not cropped, it's pretty much as-is straight from the camera. :)

View all photos taken: Wednesday, 8th October 2008, This photo: 12:19pm

Previous Photo: Dragonfly
Next Photo: Brown Cuckoo Dove

Comments

  • S.3.o.O.o.d said:
    Great shot
    Great colors
    Wonderful pic
  • accesser said:
    Pretty ! , I see these guys every morning when I stumble out the door in the morning they are a great reminder that "your in Australia" so its kind of nice to see them around the ones out my way are very flighty so some day I plan to setup a feeder and then a hide so I can get some shots with my 200 2.8 I may even be able to just park my car on the lawn and use it as a hide if they are used to it and cant see me moving inside it could work.
  • David de Groot said:
    Thanks :)
    I've had a few successful shots with the 70-200/2.8L with 1.4x TC attached, not as close as this, but still decent. Having the effective field of view equivalent to 896mm definitely helps, although autofocus would be nice...
  • Warwick (wazzam) said:
    Living in suburbia, I rarely see these guys. Nice capture Dave - especially being not cropped.
  • David de Groot said:
    We have more of these than we can poke a stick at around here ;-)
    However, I've found that with the warmer weather, all the birds are staying mostly hidden during the day, it's really quite annoying. These guys and crows are about all that bother to come out.
  • Warwick (wazzam) said:
    Yes, I miss living in QLD (Wellington Point), we had Kookas, Butcher birds and a variety of parrots that used to come every morning and night to feed.
  • David de Groot said:
    Obviously then you just need to move further west ;-) The Blue Mountains are chock full of beautiful birds :-)
  • HPVD Photos said:
    This is an excellent shot David, the extra few millimetres on the lens make a big difference, great stuff.
  • David de Groot said:
    Indeed they do - I just wish it was faster - f/8 max aperture with the 1.4x TC on it - quite awful in anything but bright sunlight.
  • MichelleLegg.com said:
    Love it - and what a great bokeh! Nice work.
  • David de Groot said:
    Thanks Michelle. I must say, the bokeh is nowhere near as distracting as I thought it was going to be. Sure, it's not as silky smooth as the 70-200/2.8L at 200mm close in and wide open, but it's not too bad given with the TC it's f/8 wide open.
  • Creative Qatar said:
    well taken .. =)
  • David de Groot said:
    Thanks :)
  • MisterEd (ak) said:
    Great to see what can be done with the 100-400 and a 1.4tc. This is the lens I am hoping to purchase one day.
    Really nice photo.
  • David de Groot said:
    It was a toss-up between this lens and the 70-200/2.8 IS and I went with the latter. I'm still glad I did as it's more versatile for me and constant f/2.8 is really really handy, but the 100-400 is no slouch.
  • pat.bluey said:
    Great shot of thisKookaburra
  • David de Groot said:
    Thanks :)
  • Jack High said:
    Nice sharp shot and well framed. Good looking bird.
  • David de Groot said:
    We're lucky enough to have quite a few of these around here - they herald in the dawn and sing out the dusk for us too.